I'd mentioned earlier about signs that the Republicans were using gay marriage in Missouri as a crass way to bump up Republican turn out in the fall election. Well, the Human Rights Campaign (the US' largest gay civil rights lobbying organization) apparently backed me up today in an email update they sent out about gay marriage:
Playing Politics: Republicans are tampering with Constitution to bring out their base
The GOP push for the Federal Marriage Amendment is not an attempt to “protect marriage,” but a political ploy to ensure conservative turnout in the fall.
An article in Roll Call this morning (“Senators Target Gay Marriage”) exposes the real motivation behind the GOP push for a hasty vote on the FMA. The article says that even though Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) says he does not have the votes needed to pass the FMA in the Senate, he has “vowed to force a vote on the issue before the election, to compel Senators to take a position on the issue.” Santorum is clearly not concerned about having a thoughtful debate but rather using the FMA as a tool to drive conservative voters to the polls in November.
Bob Novak’s comments about the FMA on “Face the Nation” yesterday further indicate that the FMA is being seen by Republicans as a way to curry favor with conservative voters in an election year. Novak said: “I know it is not popular with the chattering class in Washington, but it would help him with these conservatives he needs if the President stepped up his effort to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment.” We hope more reasonable voices within the GOP will speak out against tinkering with our founding document for political purposes.
